Daniel Gore, the horror-obsessed Salem teen found guilty of raping and killing 13-year-old Milana Li on Mother’s Day 2022, was given a life term Monday, even though officials warned that Daniel Gore might not spend much time in jail because of how juvenile laws are interpreted.
A Washington County jury heard evidence for two weeks and then decided in less than 90 minutes last month that Gore, who is now 18, was guilty of first-degree rape, murder, and sexual abuse. Prosecutors said the case was likely “the most horrific” crime to happen in the area in 20 years.
“Reforms to juvenile justice have already given the defendant big breaks. This court does not need to give the defendant any more chances to hurt our community,” Senior Deputy District Attorney John Gerhard said before the sentence.
Circuit Judge Ricardo Menchaca agreed and said he would give the harshest sentence possible under the law: life in jail with the chance of parole after 38 years and four months.
But because of changes lawmakers made in 2019, Gore will be able to get release in 15 years. Also, as early as 7½ years from now, young offenders could be able to ask for a “second look” meeting that lets them ask for shorter sentences halfway through their punishment.
Gore, then 16 years old and on the run from Salem, tricked Li, a student at Conestoga Middle School, into going into the woods behind the Progress Ridge shopping center. Gore choked Li to death, killing the only person who could have seen him commit sex crimes. He then dragged her body into a creek and hid her under a tarp.
He tried to get away with it by texting friends they both had that he got drunk and broke up with Li earlier that day, May 8. But camera footage and cellphone data showed that story was not true.
When her mother, Assel Li, got home from working the night shift, she thought her older daughter was already at school. She soon found out the truth and told them she was missing. While the search for Li’s body was going on, Beaverton police were closing in on Gore. Two days later, Gore was caught.
Ansell Li said that her daughter wanted to work with kids someday because she liked taking care of her 8-year-old sister.
“She asks me, ‘Why does Milana have to become an angel so quickly?'” “I don’t know what to say,” Assel Li said. “God only knows how much it cost me to stay alive.”
Gore is one of the few juvenile suspects in Oregon to be tried in adult court since the 2019 changes were made by the state. They will put him in the Oregon Youth Authority detention center to start his term.
Gore’s diary notes and interviews with police showed that he was crazy about serial killers and the horrorcore artist 7vxn. A memo from prosecutors says Gore asked to wear a white skull mask that was linked to the rapper while cops swabbed him for DNA evidence and said he felt “really comfortable with it on.” Eva Camera, Gore’s girlfriend, told police that he had a “blood kink.”
In a sentencing letter, defense attorney J. Mark Lawrence used a psychologist’s report to say that Gore’s IQ at the time of the murder was more like that of a 9-year-old.
During the sentencing hearing, Judge Menchaca continued to ban media cameras from the courtroom. He also didn’t buy the defense’s case, saying that Gore’s answers in a police interview showed he “was fully engaged.”
Menchaca said the case was a failure of parenting, the youth justice system for letting Gore out of jail while he was being charged with theft and arson, which let him run away, and the lyrics of 7xvn. The judge even told Assel Li that he should sue the artist.
He asked Gore how he was allowed to live in a tent in the middle of Beaverton, Oregon, in a grove that was known as a popular spot for teens to hang out. He said that more should have been done than just hope Gore would change his mind.
“Everyone just hoped!” that you’d turn on the light. He said, “Instead, we have a dead young woman.” “Mr. Gore should never walk the streets of this town again,” I said.